Shoe welting and process of manufacturing the same



Jan. 1 8, 1944. 4 K. A. sTRlT'rER I' l 2,339,524

` SHOE WELTING'AND PROCESS 10F MANUFACTURING' THE SAME I F5L1e-d Nov. s, j1941 Patented Jan. 18, 1944 I SHOE WELTIN G AND PROCESS OF MANU- FACTURING THE SAME Karl A. Stritter, Nahant, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 25, 1941, Serial No. 420,403

9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in shoe welting and methods of making the same.

In Goodyear welt shoes and in shoes having mock welts, or so-called McKay Welts it is often desirable to provide a bead or rib upon the exposed upper face of the welt. Sometimes the bead is located close to the upper so as to close the welt crease as in a caulk welt or storm welt shoe and sometimes the bead is employed chiey as a decorative or style feature to add character and attractiveness to the shoe. In making beaded welting the bead is usually formed integrally with the body portion of the welting strip and such welting is considerably more eX- pensive than conventional welting because of special cutting or shaping operations which are involved in its manufacture and which usually result in considerable waste of welting stock.

Objects of the present invention are to improve and simplify the construction of beaded welting,

to reduce the cost of manufacturing the same, and to provide welting strips in which bead-like formations presenting striking and unusual decorative effects are produced.

With this object in view the invention, in one aspect, provides a strip of beaded welting comprising a body strip and a bead strip, which eX- tends lengthwise of the body strip, the bead strip lying throughout its length in engagement with one side of the body strip and comprising one strand of a two-strand seam, the other strand of which secures the bead strip to the body strip to form a. bead upon the latter, said strand comprising a series of loops, each loop having a portion encircling the bead strip and the portions constituting the opposite sides of each loop extending through a single stitch hole in the body strip. As herein illustrated, the bead strip or beadforming strand is substantially larger than the other seam strand (which may be termed the bead-fastening strand) and the latter may be drawn over the bead strand tightly enough to constrict or squeeze it at regularly spaced intervals thereby imparting a more distinctive decorative appearance to the bead formation. The decorative effect produced by the seam may be further emphasized by employing seam strands or different or contrasting colors. In any event a substantial saving is effected in the manufacture of beaded welting inasmuch as no cutting'or shaping of the welt strip is required to form the bead and there is no resulting waste of the welting material.

Instead of providing a strip of beaded welting as above described, a strip of conventional Welting may be attached to a shoe and thereafter a bead may be formed upon the welt of the shoe by sewing in the welt a seam comprising two strands disposed as hereinbefore described so that one strand will form the bead and the other will comprise loops which extend through the welt to fasten the bead thereto. As illustrated, the loops of the bead-fastening strand may extend also through the outsole and serve to secure th outsole to the welt. n y 1` Invention is also to be recognized as residing in an improved method of making beaded weltinghereinafter described and claimed, the advantages of which will be apparent from the following description.

The invention Will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a strip of beaded welting embodying features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a bead strip employed in the manufacture of my improved welting strip;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the welting strip shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional View thereof;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a shoe having a mock Welt made from a beaded welting strip of the type shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an outsole having pre-attached thereto a strip of beaded welting constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view of certain of the operating instrumentalities of a lockstitch sewing machine showing the machine equipped with a bead-forming strip in place of the usual bobbin thread andillustrating the operation of applying the bead-forming strip to a conventional welting strip for the purpose of forming a. unitary strip of beaded welting;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a shoe having embodied therein one form of my improved beaded welting;

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 to illustrate a further modified arrangement of thebeaded welting; Y

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a portion of a beaded welting strip of modified construction;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a shoe having yembodied therein a beaded welting strip of the type shown in Fig. 10; and l Fig. 12 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View of a shoe illustrating a still further modification of my invention.

In making beaded welting in accordance with my invention for use as a mock Welt or McKay welt I employ a welting strip IB of conventional form, the strip being preferably composed of leather and having a grain-surface I8 at the side which is to be uppermost in the shoe, and a esh surface 2B at the side which is to be lowermost and to which the outsole is to be attached. As shown, the welting strip I6 is beveled at 22 to adapt it to t into the crease between the upper and the outsole of the shoe. The welting strip I6 constitutes the body portion of my improved beaded welting. The bead of the welting consists of a separate strip 24 which may be referred to as a bead strip. The bead strip 24 extends lengthwise of the body strip I6 and lies throughout its length on the surface of the body strip which is to be uppermost when the strip has been aplied to the shoe. The bead strip 24 is rmly secured to the grain surface I3 of the body strip I6 by means of a fastening strand 26 (Fig. 4) which extends along the flesh surface 20 of the body strip and has formed therein a series of loops 28 which extend through needle holes 3i] in the body strip and tightly encircle the bead strip 24. The bead strip 24 may be composed of various materials and it may consist of a strand of solid or fabricated formation such as those commonly employed as lacing or piping strips in the manufacture of various articles. For example, the bead strip may be a strand of solid plastic material or it may be woven or otherwise fabricated of cotton orl other brous textile material. Advantageously, and as shown in Fig. 2, the bead strip 24 consists of a core 32 enclosed within a tubular covering or coating 34 of finishing material which may be of a plastic or resinous nature, preferably having a smooth and glossy surface which is moisture repellent and of a character such that it will not become easily soiled. The bead strip may be made of any desired cross-sectional contour. For example, as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, the bead strip may be in the form of a narrow tape of substantially rectangular cross-sectional contour or it may be round invcross-section, as shown in Fig. 6. The fastening strand 26 is substantially smaller than the bead strip 24 and may consist of a thread of the type-ordinarily employed for stitching an outsole to a welt. Advantageously, the fastening strand or thread 26 and the bead strip 24 will be of contrasting colors to accentuate the ornamental effectA produced when the bead strip has been fastened to the welting strip by the fastening strand.

The, bead strip 24 and the fastening strand 26 are disposed relatively` to one another and to the welting strip I6 to constitute a two-strand lockstitchl seam in which the strand forming the bead strip is straight or substantially straight throughout its length and lies aloft at one side of the welting strip to form the bead, while the loops 28 ofthe fastening strand Z encircle the bead at regularly spaced intervals and extend through the body strip It to` secure the bead strip` to the body strip so as to provide a unitary strip of beaded welting.` The portions of the loops 28 which overlie the exposed portions of the bead serve tov ornament the bead since they are uniformly spaced and are preferablycolored to contrast with the color of the bead. Moreover, the loops 2B are drawn tightly over the bead and if the bead is suiiiciently yielding they serve to constrict the bead, as illustrated for example in Fig. I, thereby imparting al novel decorative appearance to the bead, simulating to a striking extent the appearance of a string of beads.

The seam above referred to may be sewn by means of a lockstitch sewing machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,169,909, granted February 1, 1916, upon application of Fred Ashworth, the machine being adapted by the employment of bobbin and needle strands which differ from one another in certain characteristics and/or by suitable relative adjustment of the bobbin strand tension and the needle strand tension to cause the bobbin strand to lie aloft upon the surface of the welting to form the bead. Advantageously a machine of the above type may be equipped with a conventional needle thread but, in place of the usual bobbin thread, a strand may be employed which is substantially larger than the needle thread and is composed of material especially suitable for use as a bead strip. Such a machine, adapted by the use of a relatively large bob-bin strand to form a bead upon a welting strip, is illustrated in Fig. 7 wherein the work table or support is shown at 38, the curved hook needle at 4B, the needle thread at 42, the bobbin casing at 44, the bobbin by dotted lines at 45, the relatively large bobbin strand or bead strip at 48, the needle thread loop spreader at 5b, and at 52 there-is shown the nose of the rotary hook by means of which the loops of needle thread 42 are passed over the bobbin t6. In this figure the welting strip I6 which constitutes the body of improved beaded welting is shown in position upon the work support 38 and there is also shown at 54 a combined presser foot and welt guide which may be employed to guide the welting strip I6 into position to be operated upon. The bobbin thread or bead s rip is not only larger than the needle thread but also, because of its size and the character of the material of which it is composed, it is tougher and stiffer than the needle thread. Consequently, it will not be drawn into the needle holes in the welting strip I6 in the course of the stitching operation but it will lie in a substantially straight or unlooped condition upon the surface of the welting strip while the loops formed in the needle thread will extend entirely through the welting strip so that the seam will appear approximately as shown in Fig. 4. In case a smaller and more flexible bobbin thread is used it may be caused to lie aloft upon the surface of the welting strip by proper relative adjustment of the bobbin strand tension and the needle thread tension by means provided for that purpose in the machine of the patent referred to.

Beaded welting made as above described is particularly adapted for use in the manufacture of slices having mock welts such as the shoe shown ,45 in` Fig. 5 which comprises an insole 58, an upper 68 having its margin secured in o-verlasted position upon the insole, 'an outsole GT2 which is attached to the overlasted upper margin, and a beaded mock welt 64 which is attached by means of cement at B6 to the marginal portion of the outsole that projects beyond the upper. The welt 54 consists of a length of beaded welting cut from a strip such as that shown in Fig l.. As shown, the beveled inner edge of the body portion of the welt 64 is disposed against the upper of the shoe while the bead at the upper side of the welt lies close to the upper as in a storm Welt shoe in which a beaded welt of conventional form is employed. It will be noted that a shoe constructed 'as shown in Fig. 5 will have the external appearance of a Goodyear welt shoe. Because of the ornamental appearance imparted to the shoe by the novel construction of the bead on the welt, the shoe embodies a style feature which makes it readily saleable as a novelty or sport shoe.

In making this shoe the beaded welting strip may advantageously be attached by cement to the outsole before the outsole is applied to the shoe. In Fig. 6 I have shown a strip of my improved beaded welting preattached to an outsole, the outsole being shown at 62, the body portion of the welt at |60, and the bead strip at |40. The bead strip |40 is shown as consisting of a strand which is circular in cross-section and which is composed of a substance (such as hardened plastic material) which is not readily compressible. Accordingly, the strand |40 is not distorted or constricted to any substantial extent in the localities where it is encircled by the fastening strands which secure it to the body portion of the welting.

A shoe having a beaded welt which presents substantially the same appearance as that shown in Fig. 5 is illustrated in Fig. 8. As shown in Fig.

8, however, the fastening strand or needle thread 260 which secures the bead 240 to the body por-v tion of the welt extends also through the outsole B2 and, in conjunction with the strand forming the bead 240, constitutes an outseam which secures the outsole to the welt. shoe the body portion of the welt may be secured to the margin of the outsole bymeans of the outseam before the outsole is attached to the shoe. The lockstitch sewing machine shown in Fig. 7

may be adapted to stitch such an outseam by adjustment of the welt guide 54 so that both sole and a strip of welting may be fed across the work support 38, and by providing suitable gaging means for positioning the sole relatively to the welting strip.

In Fig 9 there is showna shoe of Goodyear welt construction in whicha welt |60 is secured to the upper and the insole bythe stitches of a conventional inseam 10 and the outsole 6,2 is secured to the welt by an outseam consisting of a bobbin strand 240 and a needle thread 280, the bobbin strand lying upon the upper surface of the welt throughout the length of the seam to form a bead and the needle strand performing the dual function of securing the bead to the welt and securing the welt and the outsole together. Such an outseam may be sewn by presenting the shoe right-side-up to a lockstitch sewing machine of the type shown in Fig. '7 in which. however, provision has been made for properly locating the outsole with respect to the operating instrumentalities and for accommodating the bulge of the shoe upper. It will be understood that such a machine will operate to sew a seam the bobbin strand of which will lie aloft upon the exposed upper surface of the welt to provide a bead upon that surface.

In Fig. 10 I have shown my invention embodied in a strip of welting of the type known as reverse welting, the strip being split edgewise at 14 to form a lip 16 which is to be upturned to overlie the upper of the shoe, and a lip 18 to which the insole and upper are to be secured. By sewing a seam in the lip 16 by a lockstitch sewing machine equipped with a bead-forming strand in place of the bobbin thread and presenting the lip to the machine so that the bead strand will lie aloft upon the upper or outer face of the lip, a decorative bead will be formed upon the outer surfacel of the lip which will be similar to the beads herein- In making this :L

before described and which will add a distinctive style featurey to a shoe such as the shoe shown in Fig. l1 in which the reverse welting is incorporated. As shown, the beaded reverse welting strip is attached to the upper and the insole of the shoe by inseam stitches 82 while the outsole 62 is secured to the outer body portion of the welt by outseam stitches 84.

While in the foregoing description I have referred to a strip of welting or to the Welt of a shoe as the element in which the bead or beadlike formation has been embodied, it is to be understood that the terms welting, welt, and the like are intended to include any intermediate member which may be employed between the upper and the tread sole of a shoe whereby the attachment of the sole to the upper is effected. Accordingly, in lieu of providing a bead formation upon a welting strip or upon a welt after the welt has been attached to a sole or to a shoe, I may secure similar advantages and produce a similar` ornamental appearance in the shoe by forming the bead upon any element of the shoe which overlies the extension edge of the outsole, for example upon the outsole-securing extension or margin of a middle sole, and the bead may be formed upon the middle sole margin or other shoe bottom element either before or after that element has been secured to the shoe. A shoe having a middle sole 86 provided with a marginal bead in accordance with my invention is herein illustrated in Fig. 12 wherein the bead comprises a bead strand 240 and a fastening strand 260 which form a seam in which the bead strand lies aloft at the upper side of the middle sole and the loops of the fastening strand encircle the bead strand and extend through the middle sole. As shown, the middle sole, which has a thin facing 00 of crepe rubber upon its lower side, is attached to the shoe by a through-and-through stitched seam 88 and a crepe rubber outsole 92 is adhesively secured to the crepe rubber facing 90 of the middle sole.

The shoes above described and the methods of shoemaking practiced in the manufacture of the shoes are not claimed herein, the same constituting the subject-matter of an application, Serial No. 473,160, filed January 22, 1943, as a continuation in part of the present application.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A strip of beaded welting for shoes comprising a body strip and a, bead strip extending lengthwise of said body strip, said bead vstrip lying throughout its length in engagement with one side of said body strip and comprising one strand of a two-strand seam, the other strand of which secures said bead strip to said body strip to form a bead upon the latter, said lstrand comprising a series of loops each loop having a portion encircling said bead strip and the portions constituting the opposite sides of each loop extending in side-by-side engagement with one another through a single stitch hole in said body strip.

2. A strip of beaded welting for shoes comprising a body strip and a bead strip, said bead strip consisting of one strand of a two-strand lockstitch seam disposed lengthwise of said body strip and extending through a series of vneedle holes therein and said bead strip lying throughout its length upon one side of said body strip, the other strand of said seam being substantially smaller than the rst strand and comprising a series of loops each encircling said bead strip and extending through only one of said needlel holes to secure said bead strip to said body strip.

3. A strip of beaded welting for shoes comprising a body strip! and a seam extending lengthwise of said body strip and consisting of a relatively stiff strand and a relatively flexible strand, said relatively stiff strand lying throughout its length upon the surface of said body strip to form a bead and said relatively flexible strand comprising a series of loops both sides of each of which extend through a single stitch hole located in said body strip in a transversely central location with respect to said bead, said loops encircling said bead and securing the latter to said body strip.

4. A strip of shoe welting having a seam extending lengthwise thereof, said seam comprising a relatively straight strand lying throughout its length upon a surface of the welting strip which is to be exposed to View when the strip has been incorporated in a shoe', and a second strand comprising a series of loops each of which extends through a single stitch hole in said strip and tightly encircles said relatively straight strand thereby constricting the latter at spaced intervals to produce a decorative bead-like eiect upon said surface of the strip.

5. A strip of beaded welting comprising a body strip of leather having a grain surface at one side and a esh surface at the opposite side and a bead strip secured upon the grain surface of the body strip, said bead strip consisting of one strand of a two-strand seam extending lengthwise of said body strip, said strand lying throughout its length upon the grain surface of said body strip, and the other strand of said seam having a series of loops therein the opposite sides of each of which extend through a single stitch hole in said body strip', said loops extending over said rst strand and cooperating with the latter to produce a decorative effect at the grain surface side of said strip.

6. A strip of beaded welting having one of its edge portions slit to lprovide upper and lower aps and having a seam extending lengthwise of one of said flaps, .said seam comprising a beadforming strand lying throughout its length upon the exposed side of said ap, and a second strand having a series of loops therein extending through said flap and over said bead-forming strand and cooperating with the latter to produce a decorative beaded effect at the exposed side of said flap, said second strand having portions connecting said loops and lying against the opposite side of said ap.

'7. A strip of welting having a seam extending lengthwise thereof, said seam consisting of a fiat tape lying face down throughout its length upon one side of the welting strip, and a thread comprising a series of loops both sides of each of which extend through a single stitch hole in said welting strip, said loops tightly engaging the edges and both sides of said tape and cooperating with the latter to produce a decorative effect at said side of the welting strip.

8. A strip of welting having a decorative seam extending lengthwise thereof and consisting of a *relatively large strand and a relatively small strand, said relatively large strand comprising a core enclosed by a covering layer and lying throughout its lergth upon one side of the welting strip, and said relatively small strand contrastingin color with that of the larger strand and comprising a series of loops the opposite sides of each loop extending through a single stitch hole in said welting strip and said loops encircling the larger strand and cooperating with the latter to produce avnovel decorative effect.

9. The method of making beaded welting which consists in sewing a two-strand seam in a strip of welting in a direction lengthwise of the strip While controlling the sewing operation to cause one of the strands to lie aloft upon one side of the welting strip throughout the length of the seam to form a bead and to form in the other strand a series of loops encircling the rst strand and having both sides of each loop fitting tightly within the same stitch hole in said Welting strip.

KARL A. STRITTER. 

